– By Ms. Shweta Kumar
German Chancellor Angela Merkel with PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on 31May 2011.
Photo Courtesy- AFP
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in New Delhi on 31 May 2011 on a 24-hour visit to India. During the course of her short visit, Chancellor Merkel held meeting with India leaders, including Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and discussed wide ranging issues of mutual, regional and global interests. She tried to hard sell the Euro-fighter Typhoon jets to India as she discussed a whole range of issues with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, including the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
While addressing the joint press conference with the Indian PM after the signing of four accords between the two countries to expand cooperation in the fields of education, research and nuclear physics, the German Chancellor said: “With the Euro-fighter, we have made good proposals and want to intensify our relationship with India. The Euro-fighter is the best on offer. We will not exert any influence on the procurement procedures which are very transparent…we believe we have a good product and we shall wait and see.’’
Chancellor Merkel was conferred upon the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International understanding for 2009. While accepting the award, she said: “I accept this award not only as an honour to the Chancellor, but especially as a tribute to the achievements of my fellow citizens in fulfilling the values of friendship and international understanding that the award recognizes.” She also formally launched the ‘Year of Germany in India’ with Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
However, it was quite clear that the main objective of the German leader’s visit was to nudge the Indian leadership to take an early decision on the combat aircraft deal. German Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière, who was among the half-a-dozen ministers accompanying Chancellor Merkel, held separate talks with Defence Minister AK Antony. The $ 10.4 billion deal for 126 combat jets is also understood to have figured during their talks. Euro-fighter Typhoon along with French Dassault Aviation’s Rafale aircraft is in the race for the contract.
The meeting between the two leaders came a day after Germany announced it would phase out all its 17 nuclear plants by 2022, Merkel agreed to help India in areas related to nuclear safety and pledged support for the development of renewable energy. Asserting that Germany would champion nuclear safety standards and help India achieve a broad energy base, Ms. Merkel said that her country, a leader in wind and solar energy, was also ready to help in the area of renewable energy.
This occasion was utilized by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by stressing that India needed nuclear power to meet its growing energy demand and to adhere to its self-imposed obligations to combat climate change. Prime Minister said: “Nuclear energy accounts for only three per cent of total energy generated in our system. As of now our capacity is less than 5,000 MW. We want to raise it to 20,000 MW by 2020.”
In the context of the situation in the Af-Pak region, the PM told Merkel that terrorism was a serious challenge which had to be fought on all fronts and not selectively. Chancellor Merkel was appreciative of the role being played by India in the reconstruction programme under way in Afghanistan. She said a military solution was not an option in Afghanistan. Ultimately, Afghanistan would have to develop its own independent security architecture.
The meeting between the two leaders also marked the launching of the first inter-governmental consultations between the countries on the entire gamut of bilateral relations – from security, defence policy, trade, vocational training, education and research to infrastructure and sustainable energy and environment technologies. 
India and Germany, meanwhile, called for reforms of the UN Security council to reflect the changing world realities and power equations and emphasized on nuclear energy cooperation. The leaders of the two countries agreed to boost trade between the two countries to 20 billion Euros by 2020 from the present volume of 15 billion Euros.
While Dr. Merkel interacted with Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet Ministers accompanying her held talks with their Indian counterparts. While talking to media persons in New Delhi on 31 May 2011, German Ambassador to India Thomas Matussek said: “This type of across-the-board interaction by Germany is limited to its very close allies like some European countries, the United States and Israel.”
The first such interaction kicked off on 31 May with India’s External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna meeting his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle. They agreed to hold a meeting on counter-terrorism in September with cooperation in technology, equipment and sharing of operational intelligence as the focal areas.
The two sides also exchanged notes on the situation in Afghanistan where Germany is reducing troops by this year end and wants to pull out rest of its forces by 2014. Discussions on the political process – meaning the logjam over good and bad Taliban, and seeking the involvement of neighbouring countries – has been high on the agenda, particularly because Germany is the host country for one such initiative later this year.
While German Foreign Minister Matussek wanted Islamabad to “come clean” on the links between its security forces and Islamic militants, Germany also believes that Pakistan must be helped economically and its army [be] encouraged to sustain operations against militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In this respect, it will air a proposal for helping Pakistan economically, which is being resisted by India.
Being Europe’s exporting powerhouse which is bailing out economic laggards in the European Union and is involved in the war in Afghanistan, Germany is looking for quicker breakthroughs with India on the economic and security fronts.
